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ST. CLOUD, Minn. - No. 5 seed Concordia-St. Paul (20-15) took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, but three home runs including a grand slam by No. 4 Winona State (23-15) pushed the Warriors to a 9-3 win over the Golden Bears in the NSIC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Dick Putz Field.

Concordia will play in the elimination bracket against top seed and tournament host #8 St. Cloud State at noon tomorrow on the Huskies' home field, Joe Faber Field. The game was rescheduled from Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to Thursday at noon due to rain in the area. The winner will play Thursday night with a tentative start time of 7 p.m. with an opponent to be determined, with game times and fields tentative due to rescheduling today's games.

Redshirt freshman right handed starting pitcher Tyler Brekke (Lakeville, Minn.) was solid through six innings, losing his no-hit bid with a two-out single in the fifth inning. He started the seventh inning, but left with the bases loaded and one out.

Sophomore right handed reliever Adam Fredericks (Minnetonka, Minn.) allowed the inherited runs and wasn't able to work out of the inning that included Cody Strang's grand slam with gave WSU a 6-3 lead. It was Strang's 10th home run of the season.

The Warriors hit two more solo home runs in the bottom of the eighth in a three run inning.

Prior to WSU's late inning power surge, Concordia was in control of the contest behind Brekke. He went 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on three hits with four strikeouts while walking six in the no decision. In his three starts, he's pitched into the seventh, eighth and ninth innings against WSU, Minnesota State and Southwest Minnesota State over the last three weeks.

In the bottom of the fourth, Brekke worked into trouble with a pair of one out walks and a throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt that put runners on firs tand third. He induced a bouncer to third base, with freshman Ryan Poppitz (Plymouth, Minn.) throwing to Kyle Dalton (Minnetonka, Minn.) at second, and Dalton throwing high and off the base to first baseman Elliot Powell (Minnetonka, Minn. ), who alertly tagged the runner on his way down for the clutch inning ending double play.

Concordia broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth inning as Poppitz led off the inning with a double, moving to third on a ground out to the right side by Drew Turk (Plainfield, Ill.). He scored when Powell delivered a sacrifice fly.

In the top of the sixth inning, Trevon Bargfrede (Jackson, Minn.) led off with a single to the opposite field in right. With one out, senior Greg Larpenter (Urbandale, Iowa) laced a triple to the left center field gap to score Bargfrede. Larpenter scored when senior Conor McDougall (Victoria, B.C.) delivered an RBI single through the right side for a 3-0 lead.

Larpenter went 2-4 to lift his average to .358, the triple was his third of the year. Bargfrede was also 2-4 to lift his average to .300 on the year while Poppitz went 2-3 with his third double of the season.

The win went to WSU starter Chase Blazier, improving to 6-2 by working 8.0 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Fredericks took the loss in relief, falling to 1-1.